As a stem cell biologist it’s fun to read new papers on the latest cutting edge research. In that spirit, here is a list of 7 recent stem cell and regenerative medicine papers that caught my eye as particularly notable and that have sparked discussion.

I wish that I had the microbiology knowledge to better understand stem cells. I found the recent research being done at UCONN on Primary Progressive MS particularly interesting and suggests that there may be different types and causes of PPMS which may be why one treatment works for some but not all. iPS-derived neural progenitor cells from PPMS patients were transplanted into animals afflicted with “PPMS” and those cells did nothing, while cells taken from siblings without PPMS that were transplanted in the animals immediately began to repair the damage. More interesting was the follow up when the cells were grown in the lab and removed from the growth medium. New cells placed in the PPMS cell medium would not grow while those grown in the non PPMS medium flourished, suggesting that the PPMS cells secrete something into the medium that does not allow other cells to grow. Most interesting was when the researchers sprinkled the oligodendrocytes with compounds reported to promote demyelination (not sure what the compounds were since they were not identified). Cells grown in the PPMS medium reacted differently in each case. This may suggest that there is not a single cause of PPMS and that it differs between patients, even though they share the same symptoms. This could lead to patient specific therapy verses a one treatment fits all model. Science never ceases to amaze.

I think that Bioviva and others anti aging therapies are going to take over instead of all those nutrition supplements as resveratrol,rapamycin,etc.They all have a excessive price and scary side effects or are not working at all.People want seriousity and some Companies play ping pong with peoples money giving nothing for it